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I'm in for a $25 ticket. Gotta love that, The Mule always offers an affordable ticket and I'm not sure there's a better value out there for that kind of $.

Since The Mule is well-versed in the genre, this thread seems as good as any to drop the sad news about the passing of Magic Slim (of the Teardrops)at 75 years old as blues news often gets overlooked in this space. Even sadder, perhaps with him also dies the last of real Chicago Blues. He was a great, but extremely underappreciated artist and luckily I had the pleasure of seeing him several times over the years. One of the few bluesmen whose talents (playing, singing and songwriting) never wavered, even as he got older as he put out another fine record as recently as last year. He and the Teardrops always offered no frills, no schtick, just straight ahead, old-school Chicago blues and he certainly will be missed.

Before I got to BTR and this thread I was going to mention Magic Slim. I'm glad Pellboy already did so. Nice.

My wife and I saw Magic Slim and the Teardrops several times over the years. The first time we were in Chicago and went to a local blues bar and feel in love with them. What an authentic sound. I remember my wife heading to the bathroom, right behind the drum kit, and having Magic's brother hitting on her while he played the drums! You gotta love a man that tries at all times.

The Grand Emporium was our favorite spot to see them. The scenario was always the same. As the band played the first 2-3 songs, Magic sat at the bar sipping and unnoticed. Then he grabbed his hat, strapped on his Strat and headed to the stage to slay the audience. Damn, that sucks I won't get to experience that again.

Sucks indeed, wad as it would seem he would have had several years of fine playing left. You mentioned those shows at the Emporium and there was even a time a few years back where he lived and operated out of Lincoln, NE while I think one of his sons was attending school there and he was sort of the band in residence at the Zoo Bar in between tours. I now kind of regret missing what ended up being his last area show last summer at the Gladstone Blues Festival as I opted for Royal Southern Brotherhood in Olathe (great show btw) that same night instead.